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Preventing cardiovascular disease

90% of the 17m heart related deaths each year are preventable

Not preventing heart disease will cost US$47 trillion over the next 20 years

Contrasting Indian and English preventative strategies are described

Devi Shetty, world renowned heart surgeon describes heart disease

Technology shifts the management of heart disease to communities and homes

Each year cardiovascular disease (CVD) accounts for more than 17 million deaths worldwide. Despite the fact that 90% are preventable, deaths from CVD are projected to grow to some 24 million by 2030. In addition to the human costs, the economic costs for not preventing CVD are estimated to be US$47 trillion over the next 20 years.

CVD is often asymptomatic, caused by atherosclerosis, and represents a family of conditions linked by common risk factors, and includes coronary heart disease, stroke, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, peripheral arterial disease and vascular dementia. Many people who have one CVD condition commonly suffer from other related conditions. Devi Shetty, world-renowned heart surgeon, founder and chairman of Narayana Health, India, describes heart disease:

Two prevention strategies

As CVD prevention strategies evolve, we describe two; both developed by cardiologists:

Billion Hearts Beating

Billion Hearts Beating is an open, and easy-to-use website launched in 2010 by Dr Prathap Reddy, and Indian entrepreneur and cardiologist who founded the Apollo Group; the first corporate chain of hospitals in India: http://billionheartsbeating.com/. Reddy is mindful that there are some 65 million people in India with CVD, but each year only about 100,000 of these receive specialist treatment. Unsurprisingly, 2.4 million people die each year in India from CVD. The Billion Hearts Beating website identifies five simple solutions for lowering the risk of CVD: (i) a healthy diet, (ii) cessation of smoking, (iii) increased physical activity, (iv) reduced stress, and (v) regular heart checks. The website invites visitors to regularly check their heart disease risk with its easy-to-use embedded risk calculators, and sign a pledge to follow recommended solutions to reduce their overall CVD risk.

JBS3 Risk Calculator

The Joint British Societies Risk Calculator, the JBS3, was launched in 2014 after a long iteration between experts from 11 British cardiovascular societies chaired by Professor John Deanfield, the British Heart Foundation Vandervell Professor of Cardiology at the University of London. The Calculator embodies the UK’s national guidelines for CVD prevention. Although available as an app, it’s recommended for doctors rather than patients because it requires data that are not readily available. The JBS3 is managed by the British Cardiovascular Society, supported by the British Heart Foundation, and allows doctors to assess and communicate a person’s true heart age, and lifetime risks of CVD. These communications are expected to motivate individuals to adopt healthier diets and lifestyles, which would lower their risk of CVD: http://www.jbs3risk.com/

According to Shetty such risk calculators are symptomatic of rapidly growing technologies that are shifting the management of CVD away from hospitals, and into communities and peoples’ homes:

Cycle of care

The cycle of care for CVD includes, (i) prevention and control of risk factors, which need sustained and effective communications, (ii) surgical and medical interventions, which require screening and early interventions, and (iii) the maintenance of a healthy state, which requires effective communications for disease management, and the modification of diets and lifestyles. The communications of all three care-strategies are underserved because overwhelmingly doctors operate “hands-on” care to diagnose and treat symptoms, and are reluctant to embrace modern technologies to improve doctor-patient communications. Shetty explains:

Takeaways

Preventing CVD involves changing peoples’ behavior, which requires effective communications between health providers and the general public. Developing risk calculators is no guarantee of preventing CVD, but it’s a significant contribution to preventative strategies. It’s too early to assess the effectiveness of the JBS3 Risk Calculator, but it appears to have underestimated the challenge associated with getting overstretched and demoralised UK primary healthcare professionals to adopt it. The Billion Hearts Beating campaign fares better, not least because it engages individuals directly. To-date, over 355,000 visitors to the website have used its embedded risk calculators, and pledged to improve their diets and lifestyles in order to reduce their risk of CVD.

London heart attack sufferers taken to a specialist cardiac centre have a 60% chance of survival, whereas those taken to a standard A&E unit only have, at best, a 26% chance of survival: according to unpublished information from the London Ambulance Service.

Experts say that the current provision of cardiac services in north and east London have, "relatively poor patient outcomes in comparison to the rest of England", and suggest that St Bartholomew's Hospitalin central London should be transformed into a huge cardiovascular surgery unit, and a hub for a comprehensive network of care, which would embrace GPs and local hospitals.

For years, Devi Shetty, world-renowned heart surgeon, philanthropist, Founder, Chairman and Executive Director of Narayana Health, one of Indian’s leading private hospital groups, has argued that, "One hundred or 200 bed hospitals are not the solution". Narayana Health has Asia's largest cardiac centre providing affordable world-class cardiac care. "Large specialist cardiac centres, treating high volumes of patients, staffed by specialists and equipped with the latest technology, save lives, reduce complications, lower costs, and are the hospitals of the future," says Shetty.

The Bart's heart centre

The proposed new Bart's Heart Centre is similar in concept to Shetty's 1,000-bed cardiac hospital in Bengaluru, which attracts patients from more than 70 countries, and each year, performs some 7,000 surgeries; 50% on children and new-borns. It also serves as a centre of excellence for cardiac services in regional communities.

The importance of culture

Besides size, Shetty also appreciates the significance of culture in developing the hospital of the future.

In Narayana's 24 hospitals in 23 cities, Shetty has developed a culture of improving clinical outcomes while reducing costs. All Narayana's 14,000 employees are committed to providing affordable world-class integrated healthcare services for people with complex medical needs.

No matter how large the new London cardiac centre, without an outcomes-orientated culture supported by every employee, the quality of patient care is likely to be inferior to that of Narayana Health.

Narayana's surgical outcomes compare well against the world's best. Its mortality rate within 30 days of the high-volume coronary artery bypass surgery is 1.4%, compared with an average of 1.8% for England and 1.9% for the US. Were these figures adjusted for risk, Narayana's outcomes would be even better. Narayana's hospital-acquired infection rate is 2.8% per 1,000 ICU days, which is comparable with the best hospitals in the world.

Challenging professional assumptions

Like their UK NHS counterparts, Narayana's senior surgeons provide consultations for patients, lead operations, train surgeons and discharge patients. Unlike their UK counterparts, they're incentivised to spend more time in the operating room concentrating on what they do best - complex surgeries – while junior surgeons open and close surgical procedures and other health professionals attend patients in ICUs.

Typically, Narayana's surgeons work 60 to 70 hours a week, perform up to five operations a day and a third of their compensation is profit related. By contrast, UK's NHS consultant surgeons undertake between three to four procedures a week and their pay is based on 10 4-hour programmed activities a week and anything more is paid overtime. Unlike the NHS, Narayana has no rifts between clinicians and administrators; both are responsible for financial management. Every day, every doctor and every administrator receives a text message with the previous day's profit and loss statement.

Narayana's heart centre in Bangalore is a MECCA for western policy makers. All come away inspired but suggest that Narayana is an “Indian phenomenon”.

Takeaways

Perceiving Narayana Health as “Indian” fails to see the elephant in the room. In February 2014, Shetty opened a 140-bed hospital in the Cayman Islands as the first phase of a 2,000-bed Narayana Health City designed to capture share from the American healthcare market. "Our intention is not just to build a super specialty hospital; our intention is to build a hospital of the future," says Shetty.